(Grand
Rapids, Mich.) In a team meeting two hours before the Wolverine-Hoosier
Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field meet, coach Rod Wortley told the
underclassmen to watch the seniors to see the model for how to get the job done
in WHAC competition. The seniors didn't disappoint and the underclassmen proved
to be quick learners.

Alex Green
bookended the meet with two outstanding senior efforts. In the steeplechase he
led David Weeks of Siena dictate the pace for three laps then turned up the
pressure slightly, easing his way to a five second margin of victory in 9:24.58
and defending his title from 2010. In
the 5,000 meters Green maintained an even pace between 1:13 and 1:14 per lap to
string out the field over eight laps. In the final mile, only Aquinas' Dustin
Heiler could hang on. Alex churned out a 32-second last 200 meters claiming his
second conference title of the day 15:13.14 to 15:15.78. Jared Courtright was
seventh in a personal best 15:36.92.

Equally
inspiring were the efforts of senior hurdlers, John Klumpp and Jim VanOss. Both
raced to PR's in the 110 hurdles with Klumpp in fourth in 15.64 and VanOss
fifth in 15.97. The pair were joined by
Adam Duerksen in the 400 meter hurdles producing a 3-4-5 finish. Duerksen and
Klumpp improved the PR's and NAIA provisional marks clocking 53.84 and 54.19
and VanOss ran a season best 57.51.

Fellow
sprinters Ryan Versen and Zach Yeo followed suit in the flat 400 placing third
and fourth. Versen's 48.23 broke the freshman record of 48.46 set by Jacob
Erickson in 2007, while Yeo's 48.33 ranks fourth on the CU all-time list.

In other
distance events, freshmen Isaac Cox and Tyler Grey each ran personal bests in
the 1500 meters. Cox took third in 4:00.52 and Grey took four seconds off his
previous best in seventh at 4took four seconds off his previous best in seventh
at 4:08.38. Both returned for the 800 meters, which turned out to be one of the
most exciting races of the meet. Cox and Aquinas' Nick Thelen needed the entire
distance to determine the winner with Thelen winning in 1:53.87 to Isaac's
1:54.14. Grey grabbed his second PR of the night running 2:00.99 for 11th.

In the field
events, senior, Matt Kimball put in a season best to score a point for sixth in
the pole vault and freshman Spencer Perry's PR of 141' 5" took third in the
javelin.

In a fitting
conclusion to the evening, the 4 x 400 meter relay followed Green win in the
5,000 meters. Versen led off with an outstanding 48.8 followed by Duerksen's
49.4 and Cox's 49.2 to put the Golden Eagles in second, fifteen meters behind
Indiana Tech. Zach Yeo used the first 200 meters to work his way into striking
distance then positioned himself on his opponent's outside shoulder coming off
the final turn. Athletes from both teams lined the homestretch screaming
encouragement as both men battled the final 100 meters. Yeo found just enough
momentum to nudge ahead at the line. His 47.9 split gave CU a winning time of
3:15.49, a school record, meet record and NAIA automatic qualifier.

Siena
Heights won the team title with 205 points ahead of Indiana Tech's 151. Aquinas
took third with 123, Cornerstone fourth at 85, Davenport fifth with 83.5 and
Concordia sixth with 1.5 points.